Bucks Chew Up Bulls In Opener

MILWAUKEE — If a local dentist can restore some of the bite in the Bulls` offense, Sunday could be a day of smiles.

The Bulls trail the Milwaukee Bucks 1-0 in this best-of-five playoff series and don`t want to return to Chicago on the brink of elimination.

Rookie sensation Michael Jordan managed only four free throws in the second half of Friday`s 109-100 loss, and there were two reasons why. One, the Bucks began double-teaming him earlier, and two, a painful wisdom tooth began acting up.

``I don`t want to use it as an excuse, but the wisdom tooth started weakening me in the second half,`` Jordan said. He hoped a visit to the dentist Saturday would allow him to come out drilling jumpers in his normal fashion.

Perhaps Milwaukee stumbled upon a way to upend the virtually unstoppable rookie. Even double- and triple-teaming hasn`t always been successful. Maybe what you do is cater to Jordan`s sweet tooth and let nature take its course.

Bucks` coach Don Nelson figured it was his halftime adjustment, and not the smarting wisdom tooth, that sidetracked Jordan.

``I feel we`ll get better as the series goes along,`` he said. ``We played good, but we`re going to get better. We were prepared for their zone trap defense. They were in it a lot, but we attacked it well. Now we`ll put in some more things to attack it after we watch the films. We`ll do better.``

Bulls` coach Kevin Loughery doesn`t foresee many changes in his game plan for Sunday`s showdown, which will be televised nationally by CBS.

``We`re not going to do a whole lot different,`` he said. ``We`ve just got to make our shots. We missed a lot of easy ones. I wasn`t displeased at all.``

After the game Friday, Bulls` vice president of operations Jerry Krause spoke with Loughery and offered his encouragement for Sunday. He told Loughery he was generally pleased with what he saw Friday.

After what they saw, the Bulls` players feel confident they can salvage a split in Milwaukee.

``This was the first game, and you`ve got to figure the Bucks were even more pumped up than normal,`` Steve Johnson said. ``They had this big crowd behind them, but we fought out there and competed. Sunday is coming. I still feel we can beat them.

``After Friday`s game, we feel we can beat them. We missed a lot of easy shots, and our front line didn`t play particularly well, and yet, we still had a chance to win. There`s still four games to go.``

Of course, not if the Bucks end it sooner. But that thought never crossed Johnson`s mind.

Another reason for optimism was the performance of Quintin Dailey. Benefitting from the Bucks` attention to Jordan, the gutsy sixth man buried one critical jumper after another, leading the Bulls with 25 points on 12-of- 20 shooting.

And these weren`t wide-open opportunities. Dailey fired his best shots right into the face of a Bucks` playoff defense that put a premium on body contact.

``Quintin had a very good game and hurt us,`` Nelson said. ``It looked like the only way to stop Jordan was to double-team him early. And, we paid the price in other areas.``

The Bulls, though, were hurt by Bucks` guard Sidney Moncrief, who led all scorers with 30 points and also handed out six assists.